Apparatus for inserting twist into a twistless sliver simultaneously with its feed into a drafting head for twisted slivers



May 19, 1959 R, w Ks 2,886,939 APPARATUS FOR INSERTING TWIST INTO A TWISTLESS SLIVER SIMULTANEOUSLY WITH ITS FEED INTO A DRAFTING HEAD FOR TWISTED SLIVERS Filed D60. 2, 1953 Unite States Patent APPARATUS FOR INSERTING TWIST INTO A TWISTLESS SLWER SIMULTANEOUSLY WITH ITS FEED INTO A DRAFTING HEAD FOR TWISTED SLllVlERS Ralph VJiBkS, Baildon, Shipley, England, assignor to Woo] Industries Research Association, Leeds, England Application December 2, 1953, Serial No. 395,7 08

4 tlllaims. (Cl. 57-51) This invention concerns the action of drafting employed in the drawing and spinning of textile fibres.

Certain types of drafting machines are not designed to deal with sliver in a twistless form. If such twistless sliver were fed into them the drafted sliver would be unduly irregular. It is the aim of our invention to enable twistless sliver to be fed into these machines.

It is an object of the invention therefore to insert twist into a twistless sliver while the sliver is being fed into a drafting mechanism which is suitable only for dealing with twisted sliver.

A further object of the invention is to insert twist into the twistless sliver before it enters the feed rollers of the drafting mechanism.

Another object of the invention is to draw the twistless sliver from a container which is arranged to be rotated to insert twist in the sliver, which twist is maintained while passing through the drafting mechanism.

A still further object of the invention is to enable the amount of twist imparted per unit length of the sliver to be controlled as desired.

Another object of the invention is to ensure that the twist is imparted to the sliver only in the region near where the sliver enters the feed rollers and that such twist cannot run back to the supply of twistless sliver.

There are a number of uses to which the invention can be applied.

The lifting of heavy bobbins can be avoided in worsted drawing by dispensing with the usual spindle gill box and replacing it by a can gill and an apparatus according to the present invention.

In worsted drawing sets using a numer of gill boxes followed by a porcupine box, the latter can be replaced by a box of more conventional use but requiring twisted sliver.

The apparatus may be used with advantage to feed twistless sliver to the apparatus disclosed in British Patent No. 656,135, when the latter is used on a middle drawing box of the Bradford or open drawing system.

According to the present invention twist is inserted into the twistless sliver before it enters the feed rollers of the drafting mechanism, the twistless sliver being drawn from a container such as the cylindrical can used with gill box drafting mechanisms and the said container being supported on a turntable behind the drafting mechanism.

The turntable may be rotated by a drive from the feed rollers of the drafting head so that the twist per unit length imparted to the sliver is independent of change in draft; alternatively, it may be rotated by a drive from a main shaft of the machine with provision for speed changes with draft changes if required. In either case the speed of rotation of the can may be varied with respect to the speed at which the sliver enters the feed rollers.

A further feature of the invention is a twist funnel which constricts the twistless sliver between the supply in the container and the feed rollers, and is rotated at the same Patented May 19, 1959 Ice speed as the container so that twist is put into the sliver between the funnel and the feed rollers. 'Ihe funnel may be mounted on the container or separately from it. In the latter case the funnel is rotated by a gear or similar drive from the container drive. The constricting funnel can be of the type normally used in textile mechanisms for inserting false twist.

One feature of the separately mounted twist funnel is that it may be brought close to the feed rollers, so that the twist per unit length in the ingoing sliver can be maintained constant and has no opportunity of redistributing itself according to the thickness profile of the sliver before it enters the drafting zone.

In order that the invention may be more fully understood and readily carried into effect, the same will now be more fully described with reference to and by the aid of the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is an elevation of a preferred construction of apparatus according to the invention showing only the main shaft and feed rollers of the machine containing the drafting mechanism with which the apparatus operates.

Figure 2 is a plan view of Figure 1 with the twist funnel and its supporting frame and the back rollers and cans removed for clarity.

Figure 3 is an enlarged sectional elevation of the twist funnel shown in Figure 1.

Referring to the drawings, the apparatus comprises a base 1 drilled to receive studs 2 on which are rotatably mounted turntables 3 keyed to the driven turntable pulleys or sprockets 4.

The drive for the turntables 3 is taken from a main shaft 5 (or it could be from the back or top roller shaft of the drafting head (not shown) through a pulley and belt or sprocket and chain drive 6 to a change speed gear box 7 which is mounted on the front of the base 1 and which has an output shaft 8 driving a pulley or sprocket 9 through a pair of bevel gears 10.

The driven pulley or sprocket 9 drives the turntable pulleys or sprockets 4 through a rope, V belt or chain 11 which wraps said turntable pulleys or sprockets 4 to rotate them all in the same direction.

Further adjustably mounted pulleys or sprockets 12 serve as a means for tensioning the drive and procuring a suitable wrap of the rope, V belt or chain 11 on the turntable pulleys or sprockets 4.

A cover plate 13 located by pegs serves to protect the driving mechanism for the turntables 3.

Cans 14 containing the untwisted slivers 15 are placed on the desired turntables 3, each sliver 15 being fed through a twist funnel 16 rotatably mounted on a bracket 17 secured to an extension 18 of a supporting frame 19 secured to the base 1. In Figure 1 one twist funnel only has been shown for clarity. The twist funnel 16 (Figure 3) is retained axially in position in a bearing 17 formed on the bracket 17 by a retaining ring 20 and is rotated by worm gearing 21 or other suitable gearing driven through a sprocket and chain or belt and pulley drive 22 from the output shaft 8 of the gear box '7, the ratio of the gear drive 21 being such that the speed and direction of rotation of the funnel 16 is exactly the same as the speed and direction of the turntables 3 supporting the cans 14 of untwisted sliver 15.

On the top of the extension 18 of the supporting frame 19 is a sliver guide rod 23 at either end of which is a restraining pin 24.

In operation a can 14 of sliver is placed on the desired turntable 3, the untwisted sliver 15 is fed through the rotating funnel and then fed into the feed rollers 25 of the drafting mechanism. Twist is imparted to the sliver 15 between the rotating funnel 16 and back rollers 25 and then enters the drafting mechanism as a twisted m) sliver. The constricting eflect of the funnel on the sliver as illustrated in Figure 3 ensures that the twist imparted is confined to the length of sliver between funnel and feed rollers, which length can be adjusted by raising or lowering the funnel bracket 17 or its supporting frame 19.

I claim:

1. Apparatus for imparting twist to a twistless sliver or textile fibres immediately before being fed into a drafting mechanism which is suitable only for dealing with twisted sliver, comprising a rotary can for containing a supply of twistless sliver, driven feed rollers at the input end of the drafting mechanism for drawing the sliver from said supply can, driving means for rotating said supply can while the sliver is being drawn therefrom so as to impart twist to the sliver as it approaches and enters said feed rollers, a rotary sliver constrictor located between said supply can and said feed rollers and through which the sliver is drawn and by which it is constricted so that the twist imparted thereto is confined to a short length of the sliver between said constrictor and said feed rollers, and driving means for rotating said constrictor in the same direction and at the same speed as said supply can.

2. Apparatus for imparting twist into a twistless sliver of textile fibres immediately before being fed into a drafting mechanism which is suitable only for dealing with twisted sliver, comprising in combination a rotary can for containing a supply of twistless sliver, a turntable for supporting said can adjacent to the drafting mechanism, driven feed rollers at the input end of the drafting mechanism for drawing the sliver out of the top of said can, driving means for rotating said turntable and its can while the sliver is being drawn therefrom so as to impart twist to the sliver as it approaches and enters said feed rollers, a rotary twist funnel located between said can and said feed rollers and through which the sliver is drawn and by which it is constricted so that the twist imparted thereto is confined to the length of sliver between said funnel and said feed rollers, driving means for rotating said funnel in the same direction and at the same speed as the can, and means for varying the speed of rotation of the can and the funnel together relative to the speed of the feed rollers to enable the amount of twist per unit length imparted to the sliver to be controlled as desired.

3. Apparatus for imparting twist to a twistless sliver of textile fibres immediately before being fed into a drafting mechanism which is suitable only for dealing with twisted sliver, comprising a rotary can for containing a supply of twistless sliver, driven feed rollers at the input end of the drafting mechanism for drawing the sliver from said supply can, driving means for rotating said supply can while the sliver is being drawn therefrom so as to impart twist to the sliver as it approaches and enters said feed rollers, a rotary sliver constrictor located between said supply can and said feed rollers and through which the sliver is drawn and by which it is constricted so that the twist imparted thereto is confined to a short length of the sliver between said constrictor and said iced rollers, driving means for rotating said constrictor in the same direction and at the same speed as said supply can, and means for varying the speed of rotation of the supply can and the constrictor together relative to th speed of the feed rollers to enable the amount of twist per unit length imparted to the sliver to be controlled as desired,

4. Apparatus for imparting twist to a twistless sliver of textile fibres immediately before being fed into a drafting mechanism which is suitable only for dealing with twisted sliver, comprising 'a rotary can for containing a supply of twistless sliver, driven feed rollers at the input end of the drafting mechanism for drawing the sliver from said supply can, driving means for rotating said supply can while the sliver is being drawn therefrom so as to impart twist to the sliver as it approaches and enters said feed rollers, a rotary sliver constrictor located between said supply can and said feed rollers and through which the sliver is drawn and by which it is constricted so that the twist imparted thereto is confined to a short length of the sliver between said constrictor and said feed rollers, and driving means for rotating said constrictor in the same direction and at the same speed as said supply can, said constrictor being mounted on a supporting frame separately from the can and being arranged for adjusting movement towards and away from the feed rollers so as to vary the short length of the sliver which extends between the constrictor and the feed rollers and into which the twist is so inserted.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 626,195 Sui May 30, 1899 733,299 Sui July 7, 1903 1,432,861 Hubbard Oct. 24, 1922 2,228,963 McGinnis Jan. 14, 1941 2,355,071 Hendrickson Aug. 8, 1944 2,736,162 Steinberger Feb. 28, 1956 

